Chiang Kai-shek, in Full

Published: September 14, 2004

To the Editor:

I'm disappointed that you could publish an article about the corpse of Chiang Kai-shek (''The Chiangs, Father and Son, Can't Rest in Peace Just Yet,'' Dasi Journal, Sept. 9) without even mentioning his place in 20th-century history.

Chiang Kai-shek was not simply a dictator on the island of Taiwan. He was, for better or worse, the leader of China for two decades, and he didn't even set up shop in Taiwan until the Communists defeated him and kicked him off the mainland in 1949. Chiang Kai-shek was killing Communists and others who disagreed with him long before he got to Taiwan, but he was also fighting the Japanese invaders and is regarded as one of the Big Four victors in World War II, with Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin.